LAHORE, Aug 1: An Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) tribunal has directed the technical director of the Layyah Sugar Mills to install an effluent treatment plant before Oct 18, 2008.

On Nov 20, 2006, the EPA issued the Environmental Protection Order (EPO) against the mills for complying with the accepted environmental standards, install equipment, plant trees and manage waste.

In Dec 2006, the mills filed an appeal before the tribunal under section 22 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997. It said the mills had been manufacturing sugar for the last five decades and had an environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001 standards, and its department treated effluents as per the National Environmental Quality Standards (self-monitoring and reporting by industries) Rules, 2001.

After filing of the first order, the EPA again filed a complaint in 2007 against the mills to the EPO. The tribunal directed the EPA to visit the mills and check the compliance.

EPA officials visited the mills in March 2008, and reported that it was complying with rules towards environmental protection.

Representing the mills, Jawad Hassan argued that the complaint be dismissed because it was based on the same EPO against which the mills had earlier filed the appeal. He said according to the settled principle of law, a criminal case could not be filed when a civil case was already pending on the subject.

He relied on M Akbar versus State, PLD 1968 SC 281, in which the Supreme Court held that “criminal liability is dependent upon the result of a civil litigation”. A criminal court should wait until the civil litigation was disposed of before taking up the case on similar subject. He said it was very clear that when the EPA again filed a criminal complaint against the mill, its appeal on the same EPO was still pending.